Manning-led Giants win seventh-in-a-row

SUPER Bowl champions The New York Giants shrugged off the latest publicity surrounding absent receiver Plaxico Burress to defeat Washington 23-7 on Sunday.

Eli Manning passed for a season-high 305 yards and a touchdown in the rain, and John Carney kicked three field goals for the Giants, who won their seventh straight game and improved to 11-1.

The victory came despite the absence of Burress. Expected to be sidelined by a hamstring injury, Burress was nonetheless in the spotlight after suffering an accidental and apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to his leg at a New York City nightclub on Friday night.